AHSAA will consider investigation of Bledsoe accusations

If Eric Bledsoe was found to have been recruited to play at Parker, he would have been ineligible for his senior year of high school. Alabama High School Athletic Association Executive Director Steve Savarese said Saturday that accusations about Eric Bledsoe's past are concerning and that the association might investigate.

The NCAA visited Birmingham earlier this year, asking questions about Bledsoe's residency and academic transcript in high school. The New York Times reported Friday that Bledsoe's high school coach, Maurice Ford, paid the rent for Bledsoe and shopped the player to a college, and that Bledsoe's academic improvement in order to qualify to play at Kentucky was questionable.

The University of Kentucky issued a statement Saturday saying Bledsoe passed an extensive review process by the NCAA before joining the Wildcats.

"Often high profile student-athletes are selected for an extensive prospective student-athlete (PSA) review," Kentucky said in the statement. "Eric Bledsoe participated in the normal academic review process and also an extensive PSA review by the NCAA Eligibility Center and was cleared academically."

Speaking from vacation in New York, Savarese said he would analyze the accusations when he returns to Alabama this week.

"I can't say what we're going to do until after I see facts," Savarese said. "By one newspaper article, I just don't know. I don't know whether we'll conduct a formal investigation or not."

If Ford is found to have paid for Bledsoe's rent, it would be in violation of the AHSAA's recruiting and amateur rules. A player deemed to have been recruited is ineligible by the AHSAA for one year. That means if the AHSAA had ruled two years ago that Bledsoe was recruited, his prep career would have ended before his only season at Parker High School that culminated with an appearance in the 5A state championship game.

Prior to Bledsoe's one season at Parker, the AHSAA investigated Bledsoe based only on the association's transfer rule and whether he made a legitimate change of residence, Savarese said. He said the AHSAA initially ruled Bledsoe ineligible for reasons Savarese can't remember and later ruled him eligible.

Savarese said he never heard accusations during the AHSAA investigation that Ford was paying the Bledsoe family's rent.

"We're probably similar to the NCAA, where they have eight people to investigate and we have like one or two," Savarese said. "We have 150,000 student-athletes and we have thousands of bona fide moves every year. We have to rely on the integrity of the adults in charge, and that's why most of our violations are self-reported."

Ford, who has denied the accusations, declined to comment Saturday and referred questions to his Birmingham-based attorney, Reginald McDaniel.

"Maurice Ford is very distraught and going through a very tough time dealing with this situation because he hasn't done anything wrong," McDaniel said. "Unfortunately, somebody saw the need to hurt his career and Eric's career without any valid basis."

McDaniel suggested Ford might sue The New York Times. "Any kind of false allegations could be damaging to his career," McDaniel said. "We're going to weigh our options."

Ford was the basketball coach at J.O. Johnson High School in Huntsville last year. Asked if Ford will remain employed next season, McDaniel responded: "Well, right now he's still employed. I think the school system may be in some financial troubles, but I think he's going to be fine."

If Bledsoe had stayed in the same zone as other Hayes teammates when the school closed, he would have played at Woodlawn. The Hayes team started to be poached by other coaches when news of the school's closing became public, said Anthony Gardner, Hayes' principal at the time.

In addition to Bledsoe, Hayes also had Edward Daniel, now a basketball player at Murray State, and Chris Davis, who signed this year to play football at Auburn.

"That last team should have been a state championship team, but we had so many people pulling at them because they knew Hayes wouldn't be here the next year," Gardner said. "They were vultures trying to get Ed and Eric and Chris to come to their school."

Gardner said he regularly saw high school coaches from across Alabama talking to the three players and their families after Hayes games, although he wasn't privy to the conversations.

"If I did come up to the conversation, they (coaches) stopped and talked to me," Gardner said. "Then they would start pulling at the parent and child to get these young men to play anywhere in Alabama. It wasn't just in Birmingham. It was in Mobile and Huntsville to get them to go to high school. High school, not college. To me, the story is what high school coaches in Alabama are willing to do to get talent."

UAB coach Mike Davis, who recruited Bledsoe, said he spoke to the player and his mother Friday night and both were upset about stories questioning them.

"I told him to keep his head up," Davis said of Bledsoe, who could be an NBA first-round draft pick on June 24. "...This should be the happiest time in their lives."